Orchard Rewind 15

Better late than never.

Setlist from 6/24/07. We're conducting some audio experiments during the week to find some better solutions for improving our sound in our room. We also held our first 'group' auditions this last weekend... went very well.

Anyway, how was your weekend?

Peace.

The Starbucks Addiction Continues...

You know it's bad when the mere mention of the word Starbucks or a visual of one of their signs sparks a chant of "Starbucks, Starbucks, Starbucks..." from the back seat of the minivan.

Even worse - when you ask the little twerps in the back to pipe down on the Starbucks and they start a new chant of "decaf mocha, decaf mocha..."

I swear they've had one, maybe two drinks from the place and none of them had caffeine in them. Must be something else they're putting in the cups.

Peace.

Guys vs Girls: Box Score

Alright, alright... so after much complaining and hounding (not to mention we started feeling bad for them), we finally decided to give the girls an extra win.

This of course came after the gentlemen prevailed in cards once more (actually, twice more) this last weekend.

Here's the updated win totals (including the mercy point for the girls :)
Guys - 5
Girls - 2

Peace.

Freakiness

About two years ago, my wife and I along with my brother and sister-in-law went to Six Flags in Louisville, KY. My brother and I rode this ride called the Tower of Power. The ride lifts passengers 177 feet straight up, then drops them nearly the same distance at speeds reaching 54 m.p.h.

My brother sent me this article regarding an accident on the ride this week.

I am a roller coaster junkie! I love them! There is a thrill to it that you can't obtain anywhere else. It's fun and, yes there is risk associated with it.

I feel bad for the young girl and her family. This was just a freak accident.

Do you like coasters and amusement park rides? Will you keep riding them?
I have since I was a kid and will as long as my body can handle it. What about you?

Peace.

Orchard Rewind 14

Setlist and a quick review from last weekend.

You can also see the video promo for our next series here.

Peace.

Recent read: Off-Road Disicplines

Finished reading the book, Off-Road Disciplines; Spiritual Adventures of Missional Leaders at the end of May and I'm nearly finished with my next book (I'll post about it soon). I'm just glad to be getting more books in during the month than I use to. It's a very hard thing for me. I have to force myself to focus the entire time I read, otherwise my brain goes off track and I suddenly find I'm three page down the road without an idea of what I just read. I can read short snippets of things but not for long periods of time or my mind is toast.

We've been giving book reviews regarding the books we're reading in our staff meetings at The Orchard, so thought I throw out a bit about this book and the pieces that seemed to hit us the most as we discussed it.

Here's the premise: being missional is about bringing the culture to Christ. “Leaders with a missional heart find a way, no matter how unconventional, to connect to culture; and this heart is present (and absent) in every conceivable model of ministry. Missional leaders see the world through the eyes of Jesus and see Jesus in the world.” Being missional is about more than sending someone to the mission field but that we live in the mission field.

This book argues that missional leadership is derived not from methods or strategies but through the Holy Spirit’s rearranging of our internal life and thought process. The book is broken into two main sections: personal disciplines (me) and organizational disciplines (we – the staff and the church).

If you want the long version/breakdown of the book, let me know and I'll email you a PDF, but here is what seemed to stick out as key for us: questions. Both questions we ask ourselves as leaders and questions we ask each other as the staff of a church.

One of the chapters in the organizational side of these disciplines talked about what things you measure in ministry. Are we being effective at bringing people into relationship with Jesus? Not everything that needs doing needs measuring (what spiritual issues are we measuring)? Here are some of the other questions he poses on this:

1. What proportion of our church is here because of significant faith experience rather than by transfer?
2. What proportion of our leadership did we develop here by spiritual formation and leadership training?
3. What have we learned about doing ministry in our context within the last month and what have we done about it?
4. How many spiritual conversations have we had this month with unchurched people?
5. If we worked for a missions agency would we still have a job?
6. What are the best stories we can tell about the things God has done among us since our last meeting?
7. Who is growing spiritually among us and how do we know this?

Sometimes we measure the wrong things and think we're doing ok at reaching people for Christ. Are we asking the hard questions and really discovering who it is we're impacting and if those that are impacted are growing in the relationship with Jesus?

Not an easy read for me but a lot of good info.
Peace.

Orchard Rewind 13

Enhanced to help aid my team (and maybe yours) in improving on our weekend production areas.
Would love your feedback on this one.

Peace.

I'm A Dad!!!

As of 12:04 am today, I became a father...
of a beautiful 11 year old! Hard to believe that my life was rocked 11 years ago today by my oldest child.

She doesn't look like a baby any more and she doesn't talk like a baby anymore. Yet it still seems like she was born just yesterday. The time has gotten away from me and I fear I've already missed opportunities to be the dad I always wanted to be to her.

Faith is a brilliant kid. Yeah I know she isn't a kid anymore; she's a tween (whatever that means). God has given her so many gifts and abilities and I am constantly amazed at how much she is growing. And as often as she and her mom already seem to disagree, they are both very similar creatures. She is more like her mom everyday, which in my book is not a bad thing at all.

I just wanted to say Happy Birthday Faith! I am proud of you - not because of your accomplishments (though they are many already), not because you're beautiful (hey you come from good genes), but because you are my daughter. It is a privilege and an honor to get to share part of this life with you! Always remember how much you are loved, not just by your mom and I but by your Creator.

I love you!

Guys vs Girls: Box Score

As promised to my wife, I have decided to start keeping a running tally of card games that the guys have won vs the girls.

The total so far is guys 3, gals 1. There is also a discrepancy about a selective win the ladies supposedly picked up shortly before this tracking started. But then we'd have to go back and count so many other wins the guys have had - it just gets messy.

This could be painful but I'm all about risk ;)

Peace.

Church in McD's

A few weeks ago, I shared with my musicians that I had eaten at Taco Bell that afternoon before rehearsal. I wasn't in there for a very long time but of the 5 songs that played over the loudspeakers in the restaurant, 4 were songs we had used in our weekend services with in the last few months.

I thought that was awesome.

My wife mentioned to me this week that she had taken the kids out to lunch to McDonald's and a song came on the loudspeakers that was a 'secular' tune (you might remember how I feel about using that term from this earlier post). My kids remarked, "hey that's a church song!"

I find that very cool! My kids are growing up learning that God can use anything to bring people to himself. Even more that we can have church anywhere we go - we are the church.

Peace.

Dough Dilemma

Yesterday I stopped at a gas station on the way in to work. I was near empty and needed some fuel. I usually swipe my card before pumping but today I decided to pick up something to drink and just pay inside. Stay with me here...

I ended up filling up my tank, which I haven't done in a very long time due to the high prices we're paying out here in the Chicago area - can't afford it. I spaced and before I knew it, the tank was full... $59.

I start walking into the store when I realize I don't have my wallet in my back pocket. I start to panic a little and check again (like I had just been dreaming and it's going to appear where it belongs). I walk back out to my car and check the driver seat and the passenger seat... not there. At this point I start to freak a little.

So I sat in my car trying to figure out my options. What would YOU do?

Peace.

Orchard Rewind 12

Well here it is - live and nearly unedited.

Setlist from Sunday and First Wednesday this week. I omitted the fact (for some reaason) that we played/sang "It's Not Over" by Daughtry as our walk in this week. I also neglected to mention that I botched the third verse on How Great Thou Art... I ask everyone to sing with me and I start singing the wrong verse, so I say, "let's try that again". Brilliant. They really sang out on that song though.

Great week. In fact, so great you should count how many times I say the word great in this episode.

We have a new stage design for our new series we started called Sacred Roots and I filmed this on my Mac in our auditorium. Notice that my backdrop makes me look like I have horns at various times through this episode as well. It's great! Like doggone Tony the Tiger.

Anyway, if you can't laugh at yourself you'll go crazy.
Peace.